


Hoping To Do Some Good In The World

by badluckvixen13 (alteringviews)



Series: The Brightest Witch Of Her Age [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Hermione Granger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-08 01:52:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10375221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alteringviews/pseuds/badluckvixen13
Summary: "Have you considered, dear Hermione, that the answer to your question is because you ask why?"





	

She’d gone to 12 Grimmauld first to pick up her wand, knowing that she would need it now that she was off hiatus for good. It had changed a bit since the last time she’d been there. When she heads to her flat, she finds it just as she left it. Twenty years old, living alone, the smell of dust, parchment, and memories more bleak than fond. It’s a reminder that she used to live someplace else, with someone, and she was only here now because there was nowhere else to run, nothing left to tie up, no more questions left to ask. She’d closed the chapter of her life absorbed by men called by euphemisms, by taunting jeers, and adrenaline in her veins. She’d closed the chapter of not really being sure, listening to her head, her heart, and her body all saying different things. She’d closed the chapter on the past for good now, forgiven herself, the gods, the dead, and the living for everything. She’d even managed to wrangle her hair at last in all of its wild curly length.

It was time.

The last exam she sat for had been one subject only: Defense Against The Dark Arts at the N.E.W.T.s level. She’d aced it with flying colors, but truly it was more a formality than anything. After all, she’d been in the final battle, the Battle of Hogwarts as they were calling it, and she’d killed as ruthlessly, as efficiently that day as any Auror, and even more so prior to the battle. 

Today, she sat for the comprehensive Auror exam. As the proctor talked, Hermione let her mind drift elsewhere. Oddly, it drifted back to the sorting hat and that answer she had yet to find as to why she was in Gryffindor when by nature she should have been in Ravenclaw. Yes, she was brave, but all of that bravery was always supported by the vast amount of knowledge she seemed to devour without distinction.

After her sabbatical, she’d come back to her flat a new woman it felt. Grown stronger from walking, for facing the truth instead of running off to face wizarding problems. She'd made friends, mentors, learned so much. She’d found her parents, she’d met her little sister. Though they didn’t know who she was, she was happy with the relationship they had now. They’d practically adopted her after that meeting in Sydney.

She’d found her old coach who’d be overjoyed that she was feeling up to stepping on the ice again. Happy to see her healing after so long. She remembered that there was more to life than wizarding problems--and more to her than solving them.

“You may begin.”

Hermione lifted her quill and began to answer the questions. Some of them simple, most of them even more simple as she got through them all and slowly found herself at the end of the exam and standing before another person to test her spellcasting skills. He was younger, closer to her age and sneered at her. She wondered if it was because she was black, but shook her head. Wizards didn’t care about nationality really, they cared about blood purity. Then, it had to be because she was a mudblood and didn’t bother to hide that face in her muggle clothing and style, standing across from his swirling wizarding robes.

“You,” he said. “I'm surprised they even allowed you in here.”

She lifted her wand waiting for the proctor to give the go ahead. She could guess what he meant, considering her reputation along with Ron and Harry’s. He had that same sneer as Malfoy did all through school and it burned in her arm where the scar had not remained, like a PTSD episode in her skin.

_ Mudblood... _

“Begin.”

His mouth opened as if in slow motion and for her it comes… so easily. The multilayered spell that she's thinking and executes so fast that she almost feels bad for the guy. Silencing him so he couldn't speak, transfigure him so he couldn’t cast anything nonverbal, cage him, and take his wand in her own hand. The proctor is shocked, but she isn’t glancing at the clock. All of five seconds had passed, it seemed that she had gotten faster even though she had not cast a spell in nearly a year. 

It’s almost chilling to think that the reflexes and pure muscle memory were just as sharp now as they had been then. Even more, so that she felt nothing seeing him in the cage. She felt nothing about any of it. In time of war, he would have been murdered, but not he was just a harmless blonde rabbit in his cage.

“That was…” The man looked at her strangely. “If you could… turn him back, Miss Granger.”

She regarded the cute fluffy blonde rabbit in the cage and finds herself laughing.

“Finite Incantartem.”

The cage melts away as he morphs into the man, screaming and twitching his nose. The procter only nodded and sent them both on their way. The man is flushed with embarrassment and storms ahead of her. She walked out easily, unconcerned and unbothered by it all. She left Ministry as soon as she checked out with the proctor and headed back to her flat. The flutter of Ivan’s wings and the pulsing draw of Viktor’s letter on her table, freshly delivered as she’d walked in the door lifted her mood considerably.

She intended to read it, but the questions hadn’t stopped buzzing in her ears: Why had she taken the test? Hadn’t she done enough?

_ Ravenclaw... _ she thought looking towards her bookshelf. 

_ Gryffindor, _ she thought returning her gaze to her examination receipt. 

To be a librarian or an Auror, torn between her logic and maybe her courage? She had never considered herself to be terribly brave, just logical. Harry needed her help, so she gave it. The wizarding world needed someone watching their beacon of hope’s back, so she went into tutelage in secret and immersed herself in all manner of wizarding training. There were spells in her head that would have gottne her sent to Azkaban for sure, but she had only ever cast where there were no rules beyond survival. 

This thing she’d become too… 

She shook her head and looked at the letter again and standing. She couldn’t close it completely, not like this. She needed just a few more answers. 

The first would be in the reconstructed halls of Hogwarts. She grabbed her jacket, tucked the letter into her coat, pet Ivan, set out treats for him and apparated to Hogsmeade. The walk up to the carriages is short. The Thestrals whinny and nudge her before she climbed in and watched the scenery go by as they approached the grand castle. 

Upon entering, she smiled at the hurried students rushing from the Great Hall to class and headed towards McGonagall’s office. The Gargoyle jumped aside at the password and she walked up the stairs, knocking politely and waiting. 

“Come in,” she said and Hermione opened the door to find the Headmistress seated behind her desk, almost no different than the day she left. 

McGonagall gasped, nearly dropping her tea cup, “M-Ms. Granger, great Merlin child, you have caused quite an uproar. Where have you been?”

“Soul searching,” she said and looked over to the portrait of Severus with a small smile. 

“Hello, Ms. Granger,” he greeted. 

She nodded politely, greeting Albus as well before taking a seat. 

“Well, Ms. Granger, have you found what you were looking for?”

She let out a breath, “Not quite, Headmaster.”

She licked her lips, “There… are just a few more questions I think.”

“I take it these are not questions that can be answered with a trip to the library?”

She smiled, “No, but aren’t there so many of those?”

She nodded, “You wish to speak to someone.”

“The Sorting Hat.”

McGonagall gave her a strange look but stood to retrieve it as it were. 

“Very well,” she said and brought it down to sit on the desk before Hermione. 

She waited just a moment for it to recognize her.

“Ah,” it greeted. “Ah great time to visit an old hat, Ms. Granger!”

“A great time indeed,” she said and tilted her head. “I only have one question.”

It chuckled, “Yes, it was always one question at the heart of things, wasn’t it?”

“Why?” She asked. “I searched and searched, but I cannot understand.”

“Perhaps I was being a bit selfish and greedy for my old master.”

She laughed, “You were bewitched to be a lot of things, greedy and selfish are not among them.”

“Clever,” it said. “The Brightest Witch indeed. Rowena would turn me inside out if she could to see you now.”

“Why?”

The Sorting Hat flopped, “Have you considered, dear Hermione, that the answer to your question is because you ask  _ why? _ ”

Hermione swallowed. 

“There is a great intellect in you,” it said peering at her. “But it is that question, that question that burns at the heart of everything you do, your will to confront it and continue to pursue the answer that makes you a Gryffindor.  _ Why  _ is what brought you to Hogwarts, Hermione.  _ Why  _ is what made you Gryffindor.”

It sighed, “I must admit that I was quite troubled over your sorting, but I standby my decision.”

“Why…” she said softly. 

It nodded and she thought about it. It was one thing to know, to seek information, to ask  _ why _ ?, another thing entirely to do something about the why. 

She remembered wondering why she could do some things that other children couldn’t. Why she could read and absorb so much, why sometimes her books floated to her. She remembered wondering why…

When they’d come to her house when she was still a girl, after they’d moved away from their old neighborhood because someone saw Hermione doing something that should have been impossible and she had no control over… The question of why had felt more like  _ what else _ . 

To follow twisting paths into the unknown-- to ask  _ why _ and be prepared to take the answer, to look past extraneous details and perceive clearly… To always face the truth.

“I see,” she said regarding the Sorting Hat. “I tip my hat to you, good sir.”

It laughed and she couldn’t help but nod. Her intelligence, while the first thing that people noticed about her was not what defined her, nor her most startling quality. By Merlin’s beard, did she make him think of Godric’s daughter. 

When she left McGonagall’s office, she went to see Madame Pomfrey and helped her brew a hundred vials of potions for the Quidditch season and mend students’ broken bones from the first month or so of magical mishaps. She visited Professor Flitwick in his office to talk charms and what she was doing now.

Finally, she left Hogwarts and apparated. The old sign telling her that she’d arrived in Spinner’s End and she walked the familiar path where she’d dragged him that night after everything had settled into place. She found him there now, sitting at the table drinking tea and watching the fire.

“Hello Professor,” she greeted.

He turned, “Still among the living, I see. Have you the answers you were looking for?”

Her lips twitched as she closed the door behind her and walked to sit beside him, “Not quite.”

Severus hummed, “Well, don’t restrain yourself on my account.”

Hermione snorted, “You’re a right prat sometimes, Professor.”

She leaned against him comfortably, letting out a sigh, “You love her even now.”

“Always,” he replied and she nodded. 

“I can’t understand how…”

“How Potter?” He asked. “Why Weasley?”

She smiled, “Yes… I suppose so… I pride myself in coming to my senses.”

“Good,” he said. “A sniveling coward he is.”

She chuckled, “Why Severus, you might actually make me think you care about my future.”

“I have invested a lot of time into you, girl,” he said sternly. “Do not waste it.”

“Of course,” she said. “Time.”

His lips twitched just a little they watched the fire for a while longer. 

“Will you ever come back?”

“I think not,” he said. “There is nothing left for me there.”

Hermione nodded, “Perhaps you’ll just erase yourself from the pages of history?”

Severus smiled, “I could never be so strong.”

She let out a breath and he didn’t comment on the fact that she cried. 

“How are they?” Severus asked. 

“Fine, they adopted a baby girl.”

“Oh?”

“They named her Hermione.”

*

Viktor’s letter was as warm as it always was and while she wanted to see him, she didn’t allow herself to--not yet. She wasn’t ready yet. There were still questions she needed to answer on her own. So she asked about how Cyrus was doing now that he was out of Azkaban and could at the very least speak Bulgarian again. She asked about his team, how the season was going and his grandmother. 

She writes to Harry to tell him that she’s okay and reply to his and Ginny’s letter. She even managed to write to Ron about the things she’s figured out. Since he was back living at the Burrow, she had a feeling that Molly would burn it before he read it, but she found that she didn’t care. 

When she was done with her letters, she sent Viktor’s back with Ivan and the others off with Emily, the owl that she’d bought when she’d returned to the wizarding world. 

In the morning, she receives a letter from the Ministry of Magic requesting her presence to talk about her test scores and her prospects with the Ministry. She isn’t surprised that they want to talk to her but puts it in her phone and makes sure to pick something extraordinarily muggle to wear to her meeting.

_ Here’s to hoping to do some good in the world, _ she thought wryly. Chuckling, really, hadn’t she done enough?

Her phone rang, Angelo’s number on the ID and she smiled answering, “Hello?”

“ _ Hermione, you wouldn’t happen to be up for a bit of skating? Perhaps a little community service for an old friend? _ ”

She laughed, “You just want me back on the ice.”

“ _ I won’t lie and say that isn’t true. We’ll be at the Big Rink, you remember it, right?” _

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll meet you there.”

She stood and shook her head, hanging up once he’d given her the time and went to go find her skates. The fit the way they always did and she carried them out of the flat and down the street, catching a tolly towards the other side of town towards the rink. 

The woman who manned the front desk recognized her, squealing that they hadn’t seen each other in years and waved her in. 

“The ice is fresh,” she said. “I think Angelo was supposed to be holding class a little later.”

“I know. I just beat him here.”

She beamed and waved Hermione on to change for the ice. She’d had to buy new gear as she’d grown up from a year of running for her life and becoming… whatever it was that she was now. The Healers of St. Mungo’s had checked her over, but they had no explanation. She was human but there was something else they couldn’t place in her nervous, muscle and skeletal system. It wasn’t like being a werewolf at all, but something else--something new. 

Whatever it was, she hoped it didn’t screw up her form on the ice. 

Once she was changed she tossed her bag in a locker, locked it and  headed out to the ice. It was in fact fresh and she smiled, skating slowly with her headphones on her old, and trusty, walkman and the familiar practice tape in it. The Weather Girls were always a favorite as she glided across the ice, taking it easy on her warm up, getting used to it and finding that nothing had changed. Her balance may have changed a bit, she felt steadier maybe, faster and tested it. Gliding into a spiral for as long as she could stand before breaking it and skating into a combination, landing solidly to glide across the ice, perhaps one day she’d master a Bonaly while she was at it. 

_ Feel the stormy weather moving in… _

_ Here the thunder… don’t you lose your head! _

Angelo came into see her on the ice, spiraling as fast and perfect as she had when she was twelve years old. From their conversations, he’d gathered that she hadn’t been on the ice since her parents moved and her grandmother died, but seeing her there, he could see that he’d been wrong. 

“Here I was thinking we’d have to start from the basics!” He called out and she laughed, gliding past him into a triple axel and salchow combination with ease before circling back and stopping to step off the ice and hug him. 

“Hello,” she said. “You got me here, so where are the impressionable youths?”

“They’ll be here. How are you?”

She let out a breath and nodded, “I… I’m better I think.”

He nodded, “Clearly… Think you’re better enough that you’d entertain competing again?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Maybe.”

He looked at her confused, “What’s changed?”

She let out a breath and looked across the ice, “I’ve… come to terms with somethings… Did some soul searching if you will.”

He nodded, “Well… you know I’ll always volunteer to coach you.”

She smiled, “I know.”

The kids arrived, no older than she’d been when she first got onto the ice and parents came to watch, overprotective and a little wary. 

“Are you Hermione?”

She nodded and crouched to speak with the little girl with puffy hair and an honest smile. Brown eyes looked at her excitedly, a brown face like hers. 

“I am.”

“Mr. Spencer told us all about you,” she said. “I wanna skate as good as you do one day.”

She smiled, “Well then, we best start practice then, yeah?”

She nodded excitedly and lined up beside Hermione as Angelo got them all onto the ice. Hermione helped coral them and guide them through the exercises and Angelo watched her laugh with kids, fall and tumble, skate and have fun. It’s worlds different than the last time she’d been on the ice. In the end the parents are impressed and take their children. The little girl’s mother, shakes Hermione’s hand and leaves. 

“I think that might have been the most successful session I’ve had,” Angelo said with a laugh and looked over at Hermione. 

“Why’s that?”

“I’m pretty sure they thought I made you up,” he chuckled. 

“Well,” she said. “We know that isn’t that case.”

Angelo nodded as they sat together and put on their blade guards, unlaced the skates. 

“I meant it,” Hermione said softly, looking at him. “I mean it rather.”

Angelo nodded, “Whenever you’d like.”

She nodded, not entirely sure how she was going to fit this in with an Auror schedule, but since there wasn’t much of a threat in the world left, she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t have to worry about it much. 

She arrived back to her flat, took a shower and crawled into bed with a smile. It had been a long time since she’d been on the ice, but it had been as exhilarating as ever.

As freeing as ever.


End file.
